Here’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal.
Editor:
U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer is correct that the WTO is flawed and has been less successful than its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (“Another Fish Story From the WTO,” April 8). Yet his conclusion that the WTO “isn’t a serious forum” is unjustified.
First, it’s hypocritical for Pres. Trump’s top trade official to complain that the WTO has failed “to create certainty for trade” when for the past year Mr. Trump has imposed, removed, raised, and lowered tariff rates wildly, and often for bizarre reasons, such as his unhappiness with the tone of voice of Switzerland’s president. Because of Mr. Trump’s turbulent tariffs, the monthly average of trade-policy uncertainty for the past year was more than nine times higher than it was from the time China joined the WTO in December 2001 through December 2024.
Mr. Greer is also mistaken to suggest that America erred in allowing China to join the WTO. From 2001 through 2024, China’s average Most Favored Nations tariff rate fell by more than 50 percent, from 15.3% to 7.5%, while the corresponding rate in the U.S. fell by only 13 percent, from 3.8% to 3.3%.
Mr. Greer misleads when he asserts that China “dominates global manufacturing.” While China produces a larger absolute volume of manufacturing output than does any other country, on a per-capita basis – a more-relevant measure – the world’s largest manufacturing country is Ireland. The U.S. is 11th. China is 23rd. With total U.S. manufacturing output today being 11 percent greater than when China joined the WTO – as well as with per-capita manufacturing output in the U.S. today being twice the per-capita manufacturing output in China – Mr. Jamieson’s case that China’s admission to the WTO harmed the U.S. by having “crushed” our manufacturing is, at best, questionable.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
